So DracoInLeatherPants and AntiVillain baddies are making your villainous faction more popular than your protagonists. However, they're really good antagonists too, and you don't want to get rid of those. So what's a writer to do?

A faction split, of course. Arms will be taken up, {{Anti Villain}}s will fight {{Complete Monster}}s, EnemyCivilWar erupts, and the end result will, at the least, be a MeleeATrois, but more likely, this slides into EnemyMine by allowing the [[AntiVillain Good Antagonists]] to join with the actual protagonists, as a way of sidestepping the pesky FailureIsTheOnlyOption rule that most bad guys inevitably seem to be stuck with.

A subtype of EnemyCivilWar in that the splinter factions tend to distinctly divide between "Actual Bad Guys" and "People the Good Guys Can Work With". One faction may claim that they're EvilerThanThou, the other faction may respond that EvenEvilHasStandards and anyway they are ALighterShadeOfGrey. In extreme cases, villains who [[PragmaticVillainy just want to steal stuff or gain power]] are pitted against worse villains who want to [[EvilVersusOblivion destroy everything]] and [[OmnicidalManiac kill everybody]].

Compare MoralityKitchenSink, in which characters from everywhere on the moral spectrum are present but they aren't conveniently sorted into white, gray, and black factions.

See also AngelsDevilsAndSquid, and EvilVersusOblivion. Often leads to two sides deciding that the third side is the "X" in XMustNotWin.

----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]* In ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' the Future Foundation can be divided into the Good, which are Makoto, the survivors of class 78 and the ones helping them (Tengan, Great Gozu, Gekkogahara and Mitarai); The Bad, composed by the Radical Faction, Munakata, Sakakura, Kimura, Andou, Izayoi and Yukizome and The Evil, who is the one behind the Final Killing Game. [[spoiler: As time goes on, it delves more into a MoralityKitchenSink. Munakata goes into SanitySlippage after Episode 5, and his actions seem to be a lot more within the Evil range, until episode 10 when it's revealed Yukizome was a despair and manipulating him (placing her in the Evil category), and Naegi manages to get through to him, and he ends the series in between Good and Bad. Gekkogahara is revealed to be a robot duplicate of the real person placed into the game by Monaca, who really just wanted to observe, however considering her [[VideoGame/AbsoluteDespairGirls past actions]] (and the fact that she killed the real Miaya), she's pretty clearly in the Evil category, even if the most she does is pretend to kill Hina. Tengan is also placed into the Evil category when it's revealed he masterminded the killing game, seemingly for the sake of pushing Mitarai to the breaking point in order to get him to brainwash the world.]]* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' had this with the Three Ships Alliance (The Good) vs the [[FinalSolution Earth Forces]] (The Bad) vs [[TranshumanTreachery ZAFT]] (The Bad) vs [[OmnicidalManiac Rau Le Creuset]] (The Evil). Most of the sympathetic villains ultimately defect to the Three Ships Alliance.* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'': the Three Ship Alliance which retains most of its membership, the supposedly [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned]] ZAFT forces under [[DarkMessiah Chairman Durandal]], and the Blue Cosmos/LOGOS forces who are pretty much evil.* During ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[CorruptBureaucrat Yoki]], [[KnightTemplar Scar]], [[SerialKiller Barry the Chopper]], [[AntiVillain Greed]], and Kimblee's chimera are all introduced as antagonists to the Elric brothers [[note]]although only Barry, Yoki, and the chimera worked for the villains, and only technically in Yoki's case[[/note]]. However, all end up joining the heroes at various points to fight against the main villains, Father and the other homunculi.* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has the Hellsing Organization ([[{{Antihero}} mostly good]]), the Iscariots ([[KnightTemplar bad]]), and Millennium ([[ThoseWackyNazis evil]]). At the end of the series the Iscariots briefly [[strike: team up with]] leave Hellsing alone to fight Millennium [[spoiler: but end up being annihilated by Alucard when their leader crosses the MoralEventHorizon.]]* The first third of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'''s Frieza Saga is a three-way war between Gohan and Krillin (the Good), previous saga villain Vegeta (the Bad) and BigBad Frieza and his army (the Evil). The good and the bad end up joining forces when Frieza summons the Ginyu Force. The exact words of the trope were used by Creator/CartoonNetwork to advertise it at one point, referring to Goku, Vegeta and Frieza respectively.** It comes up again in the Cell Saga, with the Z fighters as the good, androids 16, 17, and 18 as the bad, and Cell himself as the evil.* ''Manga/SaintSeiyaTheLostCanvas''; Athena's army is the good, [[spoiler:and Pandora splits up from Alone upon learning that he was never truly possessed by Hades]].* In ''AudioPlay/SaintBeast'', the Saint Beasts are the good, Lucifer is the bad, and Zeus is the evil, although initially the latter two seem the other way around. The angels know things aren't right with the missions Zeus is sending them on but reject Lucifer's offer to join him because they know he's responsible for demons attacking humans. However, when they finally decide to rebel against Zeus they end up on the same side as Lucifer without actually agreeing to work together.* ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'': Granted it's an oversimplification, but humans and Evils are ''generally'' the Good (in spite [[DeathBringerTheAdorable of the latters' name]]), Lucifer, the Satans and their ilk are the Bad, and the Angels are the Evil. Granted, there are a few good angels, ([[BigGood Adam Kadamon]], [[TheParagon Alexiel]], [[TheAce Anael]], [[GuileHero Zaphkiel]], [[TheCutie Raziel]] and [[AllLovingHero Gabriel]]), and a few others who are more neutral ([[BloodKnight Michael]], [[TheCasanova Raphael]], [[TheAtoner Uriel]], and the [[ObliviouslyEvil Metatron]]), but the ruling powers ([[BigBad Rosiel]], [[BigBadWannabe Sevothtarte]], [[spoiler: [[TheManBehindTheMan Sandalphon]]]], [[spoiler: [[BiggerBad YHWH]]]]) are all bad, and even the good angels [[TokenGoodTeammate are occasionally antagonists]].* ''Manga/FairyTail''.** Tower of Heaven: Fairy Tail is the good, Erza's old friends are the bad, Jellal (possessed by Zeref) and Trinity Raven are the evil.** The title guild enters the Grand Magic Games to reclaim the reputation they lost [[spoiler: during the TimeSkip]]. Sabretooth, the current #1 guild, [[SmugSuper isn't very nice]] to [[GoodIsNotNice anyone trying to unseat them]], but at least they aren't cheating like [[EvilCounterpart Raven Tail]].** Erza is one of the few people who knows the true story behind [[spoiler: Jellal's]] crimes. Kagura is in the dark, only knowing that [[spoiler: Jellal killed her brother, Simon]]. So when Kagura sees Erza talking to [[spoiler: Jellal]], Minerva uses Kagura's rage (and [[spoiler: holds Millianna hostage]]) to goad her into fighting Erza so she doesn't have to face them both herself.** The three God Slayers. [[BlowYouAway Sherria]] (Good) is a cute, clumsy LittleMissBadass who quickly befriends her Dragon Slayer counterpart. [[ShockAndAwe Orga]] (Bad) is an arrogant {{Jerkass}}, but is a member of a legal guild and [[EveryoneHasStandards is horrified when his Guild Master seemingly killed one of their own]]. [[PlayingWithFire Zancrow]] (Evil) is an AxCrazy sociopath who [[UnfriendlyFire kills his own men]] and is a member of one of the Darkest Guilds in the series.** Another example from the Sun Village arc: Fairy Tail is the Good, trying to save the frozen village and revive the Eternal Flame; the treasure hunters are the Bad, not caring about the village and trying to steal the flame for themselves; and Succubus Eye is the Evil, trying to kill Fairy Tail, the treasure hunters, and destroy what's left of the frozen village.** In the Tenrou Island arc, Fairy Tail is the Good, and while [[ArcVillain Grimoire Heart]] or [[GreaterScopeVillain Zeref]] could possibly be considered the Evil, there is [[EvilerThanThou a far greater Evil than them]] in play, that being [[TheDreaded Acnologia]].** In the Alvarez Empire arc, Fairy Tail and all of the other Fiore guilds are the Good; the invading [[TheEmpire Alvarez Empire]] and its [[BadassCrew Spriggan 12]] are the Bad; and [[TheDreaded Acnologia]] is the Evil.* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' features more morally grey characters than previous parts, many of whom are young people just discovering their powers and have not yet been tempered by a [[DefeatMeansFriendship a good ass-kicking]]. The only truly evil characters are [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Angelo]] and [[SerialKiller Kira]], who have been monsters their whole lives, and as such are the only villains never offered redemption. * This situation happens at the turning point of ''Anime/KillLaKill'', when [[spoiler:Satsuki betrays Ragyo]]. At this point, Ryuko and Nudist Beach are the Good, [[spoiler:Satsuki and the Elite Four, who had [[ANaziByAnyOtherName been running a brutal fascist dictatorship]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist for the eventual greater good]],]] can be seen as the Bad, while [[spoiler:Ragyo and her minions, [[TranshumanTreachery at the forefront of an]] [[StarfishAliens alien invasion]]]], are the Evil. [[spoiler:Satsuki and the Elite Four do come to regret the atrocities they have committed, and by the end of the anime they are also The Good.]]* ''Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce'' seems to have been heading this way before its untimely cancellation/permanent hiatus, with [[BigGood Hayate]]'s Special Duty Section 6 as the obvious and traditional Good guys, the Hückebein as the (very) mercenary and self-absorbed Bads, and the Vandein Corporation and, in particular, its enigmatic leader Hades Vandein as the Evils. Interestingly, the manga started off by trying to present [=SDS6=] as the Bads by having them pursue the new protagonist trio (Thoma, Lily, and Isis) and the Hückebeins as the Evils, by first introducing their more AxCrazy members. Only later did it turn out that Thoma's gang were pursued for their own good, while the Hückebeins eventually [[RoundedCharacter gained the third dimension]] by showing their more sane (and obviously more influential) members and also their familial interactions with each other and [[MoralityPet Thoma]]. Hades' apparent villainy, meanwhile, wasn't revealed until the last published arc.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]* In ''ComicBook/{{Legacy}}'', it is finally established for good in StarWars canon. The Empire is split into Darth Krayt's Sith Empire (the evil) and Roan Fel's Empire (dictatorial but not really evil).* In ''GIJoe'', this eventually happened in Cobra's ranks. Serpentor's splinter group the Coil fought against Cobra proper. Of course, matters only become more complicated when you realize that Cobra was already a little shaky, being an alliance between Cobra Commander's actual Cobra forces, Destro and his Iron Grenadiers, Zartan and the Dreadnoks, Tomax and Xamot and the Crimson Guard, independant contractors like Dr. Venom, Kwinn, Major Bludd, and Blackout, and Firefly and the Arashikage ninjas, with each group constantly vying for ultimate supremacy… Cobra's got to be one of the least stable factions in all of fiction, really.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]* The film ''Film/HardRain'' does this with its three main characters. Tom (Christian Slater)'s security guard is the good, with Jim's (Morgan Freeman) armed robber apparently the bad, as his gang attempts to rob Tom's armoured car, and were responsible for killing Tom's uncle Charlie (Ed Asner). In a twist, the Evil is the corrupt Sheriff who likewise goes after the money from the truck, which Tom had hidden. When Jim is revealed to have been in cahoots with Charlie and had not wanted to kill anyone, he teams up with Tom, kills the Sheriff and Tom lets him escape.* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' (which is unsurprisingly a partial TropeNamer) has BountyHunter Blondie (The Good) as the (antiheroic) Good, {{Bandito}} Tuco (The Ugly) as The Bad, and ProfessionalKiller Angel Eyes (The Bad) as The Evil.* ''Truth or Consequences, N.M.'' On one side, there's a gang of four {{Villain Protagonist}}s who steal drugs from the Mafia and intend to sell them for money. On another side is the FBI chasing the misfits. And on another side is a gang of mobsters led by a ruthless hitman who has no problem torturing an innocent man by cutting off his fingers.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', the popularity of southern-fried PsychoForHire Billy-Ray Sanguine means that more often than not his later appearances feature him aiding the protagonists; first in order to contain the [[DemonicPossession Remnant]] [[OurZombiesAreDifferent outbreak]] and later during the [[DividedWeFall War of the Sanctuaries]].* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' does this with the second coup d'etat of Haven, firmly putting the Anti Villain group in control of the government, and a lot of the former SS and power hungry types out on the run as renegades. Notable for having it simply flip the status quo in a few areas: there're still bad Havenites, but now they're the exception rather than the rule. Even before the second change of government, Haven filled the role of "the bad" when it came to the relationship between Manticore, Haven, and Mesa/Manpower Inc. There were references that Manticore and Haven not only shared a loathing for Manpower, Haven was considered, even by Manticorans, to be the more dedicated opponent to slavery.* After the Emperor's death, the Empire in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse started breaking up. ** Various captains and admirals left with their forces and became warlords, sometimes rejoining the Empire later, sometimes the New Republic, sometimes becoming isolationist, and most often fighting everyone. ''Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia'' and three books of the Literature/XWingSeries deal with the New Republic's campaign against Warlord Zsinj. In ''Courtship'' he's a cardboard baddie, but in the Literature/XWingSeries he's really clever and nasty. Enough so that both the Empire and the New Republic form task forces to take him down, and surreptitiously they end up working together, both aware that this wouldn't last and if this cooperation was ever reported they'd face treason charges.** Warlordism and the attrition that comes of a new leader rising to the fore, striking the New Republic, and getting beat down eventually whittled the Empire down small enough that Captain Pellaeon, who'd patiently served under each leader and picked up the pieces after, was forced to join a warlord. Eventually, during the ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'', Daala talked the various warlords into meeting together to try and get them to join forces; she and Pellaeon sat out their arguing, then put on gas masks and watched the warlords die. Then Daala [[GeneralFailure lost a good portion]] of this newly-replenished Empire and [[YouAreInCommandNow left it to Pellaeon]]. A few years later, and Supreme Commander Pellaeon [[Literature/HandOfThrawn worked to make peace with the New Republic]], while other elements of the [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] fought furiously to prevent this. Decades after that, Grand Admiral Pellaeon was one of the heroes' most reliable allies [[spoiler:until he was assassinated by the Sith]].* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': ** Johnny Marcone turned out to be such an [[BadassNormal intensely awesome]] AntiVillain that he's on Harry's side more often than not. This irritates Harry, who really, really wants to be able to write him off as "criminal scum," but has some trouble with that when Marcone is going to incredible lengths [[spoiler:just to try to get a girl out of a coma.]]** The purpose of the Winterfae is to protect humanity from the [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]]. The purpose of the Summerfae, meanwhile, is to protect humanity from the Winterfae.* In ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' you have several levels of this--Vin, Elend, and Sazed are [[TheHero the good]], Kelsier and most of the skaa rebellion are [[AntiHero pretty good]], the Lord Ruler and most of the human bad guys are [[AntiVillain the bad]], and [[spoiler: Ruin and the Inquisitors are the evil]].* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''The Darkest Hour'', [=ThunderClan=] and [=WindClan=], the two [[TheHero heroic Clans]], team up with [=ShadowClan=] and [=RiverClan=], the two villainous Clans, to fight a worse evil; Scourge, who wants to take over their territory.* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': [[spoiler:District 13 is just as full of assholes as the Capitol.]] The conflict really boils down to some truly horrible people who happen to be in power and all the innocents who get caught in-between. CrapsackWorld indeed.* The later books of the ''Main/HarryPotter'' series sets up this dynamic with the heroic [[LaResistance Order of the Pheonix]], the irredeemably evil [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Death Eaters]], and [[spoiler: the steadily more and more corrupt [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Ministry of Magic]]]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]* During season 4 of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Ben, AffablyEvil and MagnificentBastard that he is, talks his way into sort of teaming up with the good guys against PsychoForHire Keamy and his men, although Ben [[TheChessmaster still had his own agenda]] the whole time.* The season 2 finale of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' ends with Buffy teaming up with Spike to [[EvilVersusOblivion stop Angelus from destroying the world.]] As Spike explained it, he ''likes'' the world; lots of fun things to do and [[ToServeMan plenty of humans to eat]]. Although Spike decided "screw it" halfway through their team-up and left with Drusilla.* To say ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' uses this trope a lot would be to understate dreadfully. While actives themselves are good, Paul Ballard is good-ish, and the entire LA Dollhouse staff is [[BlackAndGreyMorality deeply grey]]. We all just agree Alpha is evil as are the people in charge of Rossum as a whole. And by the end this has fragmented even further. [[spoiler: The surviving staff of the LA Dollhouse are firmly on the good side, and so is, surprisingly enough, Alpha. Victor and a few others have gone grayer, but by now the only true evil people are the remnants of Rossum.]]* ''Series/TheFlash2014'' has [[TheHero Barry Allen/Flash]] and his friends in Team Flash as the good and speedsters such as [[OmnicidalManiac Zoom]] and [[AGodAmI Savitar]] as the Evil. As the Bad, Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash is a recurring ally and mentor for Team Flash while still remaining a murderous supervillain.* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' takes this and shifts it a few steps down the morality scale. Through most of the show, the Sons are {{Nominal Hero}}es or {{Anti Hero}}es who team up with local law enforcement and other gangs to take out even worse gangs, like skinheads. * ''Series/TheCape'' now seems to have established something like this with the Cape as the Good, the Carnival of Crime as the Bad and Fleming[=/=]Chess as the Evil. it may even be a fourway with Scales somewhere between the Carnival and Fleming or as [[EvilVersusEvil Evil, just opposed to Fleming]].* ''Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger'', sort of. The [=GekiJyuKen=] school is the Good, represented by the heroes and their MartialPacifist teachers. [=RinJyuKen=] school is the Bad--represented by our heroes' main rivals and some [[TheSocialDarwinist faux-Darwinist teachers]]. [=GenJyuKen=] is the Evil--not so much a school as a front for an immortal monster who wants to destroy civilization out of boredom.* Season 2 of ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' is shaping up like this, with [[TheHero Nikita]] and her allies as the Good, [[GovernmentConspiracy Division]] and their ManBehindTheMan [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Oversight]] as the Bad, and [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Gogol]] and ''their'' ManBehindTheMan [[MegaCorp Zetrov]] as the Evil. Following the status quo changing events about midway through the season, the list changed: Team Nikita is still the Good [[spoiler: along with the {{Heel Face Turn}}ed last living members of Oversight]], but Zetrov's head Semak is now closer to the Bad, and the Evil can be best represented by Amanda [[spoiler: and her partner Ari (Semak's [[TheStarscream Starscream]])]], with Percy still somewhere between Bad and Evil.* ''Series/TheWire'': Starting roughly in Season 3, the cops of the Major Crimes Unit (no angels, but on their side--most of the time) are the Good, the Barksdale Organization and Proposition Joe's Organization (well-established Baltimore drug dealers, willing to use violence but preferring peaceful settlements as better for business) are the Bad, and the Stanfield Organization (run by the utterly ruthless and cold-blooded sociopath Marlo Stanfield, who has zero compunctions about murdering anyone for any reason) is the Evil.* ''Series/BreakingBad'' has some elements of this, though who's where depends on which season. A few constants are that [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Hank is The Good]], Pinkman is The Bad, and the various druglords and cartels that are the antagonists (Tuco, Gus, etc.) are The Evil. Where the protagonist Walt is depends on the season; he starts off on [[JustifiedCriminal the lighter side]] of The Bad and starts settling toward the bottom from there; by the later seasons it starts to seem more like he's the VillainProtagonist.* ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'', once George Hearst shows up in season two. Seth Bullock is the face of the Good; he's not the morally purest person around, but his devotion to justice makes him at least [[AntiHero more heroic]] than others. Al Swearengen's faction, Bullock's antagonists in the first season, are the Bad; they're a pimp and his cronies attempting to prevent the town from rising above the status of OutlawTown so they won't have to deal with the government. Hearst, though, is a NietzscheWannabe mining magnate who will see the town utterly destroyed if it attempts to resist his complete domination.* ''Series/{{Continuum}}'' has a variant of this in the third season finale. Good and Bad ([[spoiler:Kiera, Brad, and Liber8]]) team up to take out, not a bad guy who's EvilerThanThou, but a former good guy ([[spoiler: the original Alec]]) who's sliding down the slippery slope. Overall, the show starts out with Liber8 as the Evil and Kiera and the police (represented by Dillon) as the Good, but shows an increasingly KnightTemplar-ish Dillon sliding into the Evil spot.* The second season of ''The 100'' has the Arc dwellers aka "Sky People" teaming up with their former adversaries the Grounders to oppose the inhabitants of Mount Weather. Since the show operates on GreyAndGrayMorality it's more muddled than the usual case but Mount Weather is definitely the darkest shade around.* In the first two seasons of ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'', this applied. Sibuna and their allies were the good guys, the Secret Society were bad, and then Rufus Zeno was pure evil. In season 2 it's more complicated with another addition to the pure evil side--Senkhara--who was also competing against Rufus and the society as they all wanted the mask, and Sibuna were the ones who had to get it for her. So it was pure evil forcing good to end up fighting against bad and evil again. * ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' has this. The Good are the Special Unit, who protect people from the Bad, the Roidmudes, who seek to dominate the humans because of their negative emotions [[spoiler:programmed by the Evil, their inventor, who seeks to TakeOverTheWorld]]. The only thing though is that the Evil doesn't show up until the final leg of the show.* ''Series/LostGirl'' in spades: the Light (good), the Dark (bad), and the monsters (evil). Though the Light and Dark are actually [[ALighterShadeOfGrey lighter and darker shades of grey]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]* The band Music/{{GWAR}} follows this heavily.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]* This was the premise of Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 1996 with the faces and heels (good and bad, respectively) defending WCW against the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder (evil).* Generation Next's original Wrestling/RingOfHonor unit ended up [[HeelFaceTurn turning face]] in the face of the eviler Embassy of Prince Nana and then the invading forces of Wrestling/{{CZW}}. When those were done however, the remaining members split to form three groups, three face one heel. The heel "No Remorse Corps" of Wrestling/RoderickStrong face trio of Wrestling/AustinAries, Erik Stevens and Matt Cross...which went nowhere thanks to Aries and Strong being scouted by Wrestling/{{TNA}} to start another version Generation Next there, and Jack Evans starting the Vulture Squad to even the odds against established heel threats [=Hangm3m=] and The Age Of The Fall. Age Of The Fall were themselves undone when their heir apparent Wrestling/TylerBlack proved popular enough to turn face.* In Summerslam 2010, it was Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/JohnMorrison, Wrestling/RonKillings, and Wrestling/BryanDanielson (faces) teaming up with Wrestling/ChrisJericho and Wrestling/{{Edge}} (heels) against Wrestling/TheNexus.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'', the Tau Empire, Harlequins, the Imperium and the Craftworld Eldar are the Bad; the Necrons and Orks are the Evil; and Chaos, Dark Eldar and Tyranids are the Really Really Evil. The Tyranids are a threat for everyone so huge that all the other faction would unite and fight them in a united front if needed. Of course, the alliance won't last long, but still.* Endemic in the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness''.** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': [[BadPowersGoodPeople Very human Kindred]] (good) often still support the [[DeadlyDecadentCourt Camarilla]] (bad) just for protection from the [[AxCrazy Sabbat]] and the [[ReligionOfEvil infernalists]] (evil).** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'': The Wyld (closest thing the setting has to 'good') must frequently work with the mad Weaver (bad) to oppose the [[EldritchAbomination Wyrm]] (evil). On a less cosmic level, the Garou tribes are politically divided; [[ActualPacifist Children of Gaia]] and [[NominalHero Wendigo]] (good) are forced to work with [[ManipulativeBastard Shadow Lords]] and the [[ThoseWackyNazis Get of Fenris]] (bad) because, again, the Wyrm is just that evil.** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'': The Traditions (good) and the Technocracy (bad) exhibit TeethClenchedTeamwork against the [[OmnicidalManiac Nephandi]] (evil) and [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds Marauders]] (evil).[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* In the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, an EnemyCivilWar ends up dividing the Covenant between the honor-bound Elites and the viscous Brutes. Many Elites, having already respected humanity as a WorthyOpponent, join forces with the humans against both the Covenant and the Flood, and eventually make peace with humanity when the war ends, with several Elites fully becoming the Good in their own right.* Creator/BioWare games often feature this setup:** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIShadowsOfAmn'' has the FeaturelessProtagonist as the Good ([[WordOfGod canonically]]), the [[ThievesGuild Shadow Thieves]] as the Bad, and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Bodhi's vampires]] as the Evil. To emphasize how Evil the latter are, some [[NonPlayerCompanion party members]] will flat out leave your party [[PermanentlyMissableContent forever]] if you deal with them.** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' had the Warden (the Good), Teyrn Loghain and his posse (the Bad), and the Darkspawn Horde (the Evil). In universe, mages and templars see themselves as the Good, each other as the Bad, and Abominations as the Evil.** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has Paragon Shepard, his/her crew, and Anderson as the only spots of good, the politicians and people like Aria in the grey area, and various mercenary groups, the Collectors, and the Reapers as evil.** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has Shepard, Anderson, and Hackett as the Good, Cerberus and particularly the geth ([[spoiler:who can be pulled over to the Good side]]) as the Bad, and the Reapers as the Evil.* In the ''VideoGame/DuneII'', ''Dune 2000'' and ''VideoGame/EmperorBattleForDune'' games you have 3 playable factions (minus the subfactions, you can be allied to those) that fit this trope, the good House Atreides, the insidious House Ordos that is willing to do nasty things if necessary for it's endless pursuit of wealth and probably drugs its citizens to make them more submissive, vs. the evil House Harkonnen who are a royal house consisting almost entirely of perverted, deranged psychopaths who enslave, backstab, and a lot of other nasty things and their soldiers are more afraid of them than their enemy.* In the ''VideoGame/{{Freespace}}'' stategy guide, it describes the Terrans as the "Good Guys," the Vasudans are the "Bad Guys," and the Shivans are the "Really Bad Guys."* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'': Zero, Ciel, and LaResistance are the Good; [[KnightTemplar Copy-X]], [[HeroAntagonist the Guardians]], and Neo Arcadia in general (or rather what Neo Arcadia has become) are the Bad; and Dr. Weil and [[AxCrazy Omega]] are the Evil.* Something like this happens in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' with the Enclave splitting up. An interesting variation, as the player is actually given the option of siding with the ''more'' evil faction, but not the lesser one, so the game's final confrontation will always be against the same guys, regardless of moral choice.* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' the Courier gets to choose whose side he can join: NCR, Caesars Legion, or Mr House. Which ones are the good, bad, and evil depends on the player's perspective, but most characters in the game generally agree that the Legion are the worst of the three.* And in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', we have four major factions, all of which the player can join. The Minutemen, the Railroad, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Institute. Again, which ones are the good, the bad and the evil depend on your perspective, though the Minutemen are pretty unambiguously good, and most characters in the game are opposed to the Institute.* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'', starting with Yuri in ''Red Alert 2'', the Scrin faction in ''Tiberium Wars'' (double the fact that the Brotherhood of Nod has received even more fandom by this time). Not so much in Red Alert 3, since the 'bad guys' are technically still the Soviets.* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' also adheres this, although there's no pure Good or Bad due to the rather [[GrayAndGrayMorality gray moralities of both sides]]. Oppositions of the NOL (Ragna, Sector Seven) is the Good. NOL is the Bad. Hazama/Terumi and Relius Clover are the Evil.** ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronoPhantasma Chrono Phantasma]]'' mucks things up within it. The NOL and Sector Seven at large are Bad; some individual members of both groups, and all known entities unaffiliated with either, are Good. Terumi and Relius are still Evil. Things change at the end, however:*** [[spoiler:The Good: Jin, Noel/Mu, Makoto, Tsubaki/Izayoi, Hakumen, Jubei, Celica, Kagura, Rachel, Valkenhayn, Taokaka, Tager, Bang, Platinum (if Luna and Sena survive; Trinity is dead)]]\\[[spoiler:The Ambiguous: Bullet, Amane, Carl, Litchi.]]\\[[spoiler:The Bad: Azrael, Relius, and Nu]]\\[[spoiler:The Evil: Imperator Saya/Izanami, Phantom/Nine by extension]]\\[[spoiler:The Mindless: Arakune and Ragna]]* VideoGame/PsychicForce, by the second game, exemplifies this. The Good is Anti-NOA (no official leader, the closest is [[TheHero Burn]]), the Bad is NOA (led by [[DarkMessiah Keith]]), and the Evil is the Army (led by Wong). There are other forces such as magicians (Genma/Genshin) that don't take sides and instead be a KnightTemplar and just target all three sides because they're Psychiccers and Psychiccers are EVIL (in their head).* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', the Empire and the Stormcloaks are the Good and the Bad, which one depending on whose side you pick in the Civil War. The Thalmor are always the Evil, one of the few things both sides agree on.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Oh yes. The main character is a mercenary employed by [[WellIntentionedExtremist eco]]-[[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorists]]. Your enemy is a MegaCorp whose [[PoweredByAForsakenChild fuel usage]] is ''literally killing the planet''. That becomes less important when this other guy comes along and [[OmnicidalManiac plans to kill everyone]] via ColonyDrop to [[AGodAmI ascend into Godhood]]. (Said MegaCorp dedicates its operations to stopping said guy from that point onward.) You can count the named characters who have not killed many, many people (directly or indirectly) on one hand, and by far the most prominent one [[ItWasHisSled dies a third of the way through]]. [[CrapsackWorld Yeesh]].* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'' has this going on from beginning to end with Ashley, Sydney and Romeo. * ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'' has the forces of Good led by King Alteon being The Good and the forces of Evil led by Gravelyn being The Bad joining forces in order to fight the forces of Chaos led by Drakath.* ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': We have Batman's team as the Good (they want to rebuild after the events of [[VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs the first game]] and bring justice back to the world), the remnant of Superman's Regime as the Bad (who seek to TakeOverTheWorld again and bring peace and order at the cost of basic freedoms) and Gorilla Grodd's group and Brainiac as the Evil (who stand in as different degrees of kill-happy maniacs: the one that wishes to TakeOverTheWorld and kill millions along the way and the OmnicidalManiac, respectively).* The three factions of ''VideoGame/{{Planetside}}'': the New Conglomerate, a RagtagBunchOfMisfits fighting for independence after the Terran Republic's massacre of Liberty's Call protesters; the Terran Republic, the totalitarian regime back on Earth seeking to retake control of Auraxis; and the Vanu Sovereignity, a cult of scientists "touched" by {{Precursor|s}} technology and looking to "enlighten" the rest of humanity [[TranshumanTreachery whether it wants to be enlightened or not]]. ''2'' makes the New Conglomerate less sympathetic and the Terran Republic moreso, while keeping the Vanu crazy as ever, making the game BlackAndGrayMorality.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]* ''Webcomic/{{Blip}}''. Heaven is run by {{Knight Templar}}s willing to ruin the lives of humans for the sake of preserving order. Hell is run by a genuinely nice guy, who nevertheless wants to plunge the world into chaos by amplifying the titular blip in God's plan. The real good guys aren't allied with either side.* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' has Torg and [[TrueCompanions his friends]] (the Good) sabotaging Hereti Corp, No Fun, and other ruthless organizations (the Evil) by working for the supervillain Minion Master (the Bad).* Rather than splitting the evil, ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' splits the good. GodAndSatanAreBothJerks, but Buddha acts as a neutral figure in the conflict, ironically acting more "good" than the supposed good faction. (The protagonists themselves are all over the place--Slick in particular has declared allegiance to all three factions ''simultaneously''.)* ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'': Although Bec Noir is incredibly powerful and is responsible for over half of the deaths seen so far, Lord English is powerfully evil, threatening the very existence of paradox space itself.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Originals]]* ''WebVideo/ThereWillBeBrawl'': Red, Peach and Luigi are Good; Link and the remaining mob bosses are Bad; and Kirby, [[spoiler: along with Ness and Lucas,]] is completely batshit ''evil incarnate''.* In ''WebVideo/TalesFromMyDDCampaign'', Humans are the Good, the Illud are the Bad, and the Deluvians are the Evil.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'''s second season broke down into this, with Aang and friends being the good, Zuko being the bad, and Azula the evil. At the end of the second season Zuko would subvert the opportunity for a HeelFaceTurn, but eventually do it in the third.** This is actually true for most of the show. In the first season, Aang and co. are the good, Zuko is the bad, and Zhao is the evil; in the first part of the third, the good and bad roles are the same, but with [[BigBad Ozai]] joining Azula in the evil. After Zuko's HeelFaceTurn the system breaks down, though at the very end you have the [[FanNickname Gaang]] as the good, Azula as the [[TragicVillain crazy yet pitiable evil]], and Ozai as the stone-cold irredeemable sadistic evil.** This even shows up among the main firebenders in the first season. Iroh is the Good, being GoodAllAlong, Zuko is the Bad, chasing the Avatar while willing to reach out a hand to help his uncle or crew, and Zhao is the Evil, a {{Jerkass}} who is willing to cross the MoralEventHorizon if he deems it necessary. * ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' turned into this pretty early on and kept building on it. It used to be that Team Phantom was the good and the [[RoguesGallery various ghosts he fought]] were the evil. Now, Team Phantom is good, Vlad and Valerie (along with a few more sympathetic ghosts) are the bad, and most of Danny's RoguesGallery is the evil. By the end, however, Vlad is the evil and most of the RoguesGallery is the bad.* The '90s ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series had one of the most memorable and sympathetic portrayals of Magneto ever to exist, out to defend mutantkind from its human oppressors, who were generally portrayed as pretty heavily bigoted. Of course the show couldn't have him be ''too'' evil with such a sympathetic cause, so he got thrust into EnemyMine situations in all but his ''very first'' appearance against villains who were [[EvilerThanThou more evil than]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards him at his worst]].* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' did this often in the second season, most notably with Goliath and Xanatos (who may be the king of self-interest trumping morality, but isn't ''evil'' per se) teaming up against the out-of-control transformed Fox in "Eye of the Beholder" and the serial-killing Demona in the "City of Stone" arc.* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' Spidey is the good and most of his RoguesGallery are the evil, with [[BigBad Tombstone]] as the bad- he's unquestionably a villain and a very ruthless one, but he sees his criminal empire as a business first and foremost and tends to avoid pointless cruelty. He (briefly) teams up with Spidey on a couple of occasions against the blatantly psychotic Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus.** It's not just him, either - Sandman, Black Cat, and (to a much lesser extent) Rhino are just in it for the money, and don't really go out of their way to hurt anyone (except Spidey himself, in Rhino's case). Sandman even gets to team up with Spidey for [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath in the course of saving a little girl]].** And Molten Man was working for the truly psychotic Green Goblin, but against his will - it was a pretty clear set-up for a HeelFaceTurn, but [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the show was canceled just two seasons in]].* In the fourth season of WesternAnimation/KimPossible, AffablyEvil Dr. Drakken and his DeadpanSnarker [[TheDragon dragon]] Shego developed into "the bad". First by toning down their evil throughout the season and in the final episode by putting them in an EnemyMine position against a race of AlwaysChaoticEvil alien invaders.* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' had an alliance with [[ArchEnemy Slade]] against BiggerBad Trigon that lasted all of 2 episodes.* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' there are varying degrees of bad and evil, while the Monks are unquestionably good, though they dip their toes in the darkside sometimes, there is Jack on the bad side but he wants to be the BigBad. Chase could be considered bad also as he spends most of his time helping the monks while trying to fullfill his own goals. There is Wuya who is evil, but mostly harmless except when she reveals herself to be a NotSoHarmlessVillain, and finally Hannibal Bean who is very evil.* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Darkseid was inadvertently revived by a ritual Lex Luthor intended for Brainiac but was sabotaged by Tala as payback. Luthor rather sensibly went straight to the League and explained there was going to be an alien invasion now and the planet needed saving, let us help. The League [[MercyLead gave them a five-minute head start]] afterward.** Darkseid's role as the Evil of this trope was cemented early on the the series (even as far back as ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''), in that he's the only one to whom Superman will show no mercy in battle, even to the point that he's fully prepared to sacrifice himself if it means that Darkseid goes down with him.* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Death Watch and Darth Maul team up. Eventually Maul takes total control, but not all of Death Watch is willing to follow him; things end with Maul's Death Watch as the Evil vs. original Death Watch as the Bad; with the Good (in the form of the Jedi) yet to get involved. * ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' Star's casual fights against Ludo and his monsters does not compare with [[spoiler: the evil the cast faces in Season 3 "The Battle for Mewni"]][[/folder]]----